Critical Hit – Class & Character Balance

01Apr

As MMO players, or even players that just enjoy typical multiplayer games, you’ve no doubt come across this weeks Critical Hit topic; character and class balance. This is one issue that spreads across multiple genres of MMO game, from MMOFPS and MMORPG to MMORTS and MOBA games, but as players how much do we really know?

Sure, a certain class may constantly defeat me in a 1v1 match-up, but isn’t that the nature of classes? There’s no point in having every class resistant to all types of damage in the same way, as it defeats the point of the variation in the first place. Although the issue can be seen in most games, I find it to be a bigger cause for concern in today’s top MOBA titles.

If you check any MOBA forum, including League of Legends and SMITE, you’ll see dozens of threads dedicated to debates revolving around over powered or under powered Champions/Gods.

However, I feel that this is more often a case of nerd rage than anything else. As players we don’t have access to the endless amounts of statistics and information available to developers. Occasionally they send an email or press release demonstrating just how much of the game is tracked.

PlanetSide 2 for example, tracks how many bullets have been fired, how many hit their target and even how much time has been spent healing. When you apply statistics of that depth across an entire game, it has to provide some valuable insight into the true over powered and under powered aspects.

How do you feel about it? Do you think that over and under powered problems are rife in today’s MMO world or would you agree that, more often than not, it’s simply a case of player frustration?